Resurfacing Q1 2026 data: Delhi-NCR retail leasing jumped 45% as fashion and F&B fueled demand
A resurfaced report shows Delhi-NCR retail leasing reached 0.59 million sq ft in Q1 2026, up from 0.41 million sq ft a year earlier. Malls accounted for 64% of leasing, with fashion and food-and-beverage occupiers driving activity despite tight supply of quality space.
What happened
Delhi-NCR retail market · Delhi-NCR retail leasing rose 45% year-on-year to 0.59 million sq ft in Q1 2026, led by fashion and F&B demand. Mall leasing made up
Key facts
- Delhi-NCR Q1 2026 retail leasing: 0.59 million sq ft
- Delhi-NCR leasing growth: 45% YoY
- Delhi-NCR Q1 2025 retail leasing: 0.41 million sq ft
- Shopping malls' share: 64%
- High streets' share: 36%
- Delhi-NCR share of top-eight-city leasing: 30%
- Top eight cities Q1 2026 leasing: 1.95 million sq ft
- Top eight cities Q1 2025 leasing: 2.17 million sq ft
- Top eight cities Q1 leasing decline: 10%
- Top eight cities calendar 2025 leasing: 9.21 million sq ft
Why this matters
The concentration of leasing in malls and demand from fashion and F&B make Delhi-NCR a priority market for partnerships, acquisitions, or expansion platforms with access to quality retail space.
What to watch
- Quarterly Delhi-NCR leasing volume and whether the region sustains its 30% share of top-eight-city absorption.
- Prime mall vacancy, renewal rent uplifts, and the spread between mall and premium high-street rents.
- New Grade A mall completions, construction delays, and the share of space pre-leased before opening.
- Fashion versus F&B leasing share, including growth in experiential dining, beauty, athleisure, and value-fashion formats.
- Consumer discretionary spending, mall footfall, retailer same-store sales, and food delivery economics.
- Whether leasing in the other seven major cities recovers from the reported 10% year-on-year decline.
- Fashion retailers should lock in multi-store mall pipelines now, prioritizing catchments with strong weekend footfall and adjacencies to F&B anchors.
- F&B operators should target smaller-format, high-throughput units and negotiate infrastructure commitments for exhaust, utilities, delivery access, and outdoor seating.
- Mall owners should convert demand into longer lease terms, turnover-rent structures, and category exclusivity while curating tenant mixes that extend dwell time.
- Developers with upcoming supply should pursue anchor pre-commitments early, as retailers are likely to seek certainty on access, parking, and handover timelines.
- Retailers priced out of prime malls should build a parallel high-street strategy rather than accept weak secondary-mall locations.